OLED technology helps glass see in the dark

by Mark R

About a week ago I talked about how some OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) technology could turn an ordinary pane of glass into a display called a T-OLED. Today I would like to talk about how OLED could turn ordinary glass into a night-vision screen.

This tech comes to us from both DARPA and the University of Florida. It is a new material made from seven OLED layers, which have the ability to get “excited” by infrared light. Once light passes through these layers, they get amplified by the next layer, which turns what was once dark into light.

Sounds very cool, doesn’t it? Too bad that the only sample of this tech that they have is one square centimeter. I’m guessing that you would have to squint really hard to see the image from the photo.

I’m also guessing that the best use of this technology would be on eyeglasses, windshields, windows, and any other place where seeing in the dark is necessary. I’m sure that this tech is by no means cheap, just like the aforementioned T-OLED.

Now, if only there was a way to combine the T-OLED tech with this night vision tech. That would certainly be something to see, all right. I swear, the future is already looking brighter at just the thought of that.